the speaker pro tempore: on this 23 -- e yeas are

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 237, the nays are 189. he bill is passed. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. reminded that all visitors here are guests of the shows of opinion

are against the rules of the house. he smotion on passage. the clerk: senate 782, an act to re-authorize an the chimes against children task force program and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the howls suspend the rules -- will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vet, the yeas are 417, the nays are 3. 2/3 being in the affirmative,

the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i send to the desk a privilege red port if the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 553, providing for consideration of the concurrent resolution, house concurrent resolution 1, establishing the congressional budget for the united states government for fiscal year 2018 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fisscag years 2019 through 2027. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed.

the house will be in order. members please take their conversations off the floor. he house will be in order.

members will please take their conversations off the floor. the chair will now entertain requestses for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. the gentlewoman will -- the ntlewoman will suspend the house is not in order. the gentlewoman will suspend. the house will be in order. ouse is not in order.

the gentlewoman may resume. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the pain-capable unborn child protection act a measure that will restrict abortions after 20 weeks. substantial scientific evidence has proven that abortions inflight -- inflict pain on unborn children who reach 20 weeks. ms. tenney: it's also proven that at 20 weeks a child can survive outside the wound. just last week i had the chance

to meet micah pickering, who was born at 20 weeks. he's now a 5-year-old boy in kindergarten. this bill is a commonsense measure that will protect our next generation and end the egregious practice of late-term abortions. during my time as a member of the new york state assembly, i was prime sponsor of the pain-capable unborn child protection act and was honored to champion this bill in an effort to protect the most vulnerable in our society. i urge my colleagues to protect the sanctity of life by vote yeg on the pain capable unborn child protection act and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek ecognition? ms. kaptur: during the august recess i held a field hearing to hear first-hand accounts from american workers and farmers on

what a regoirted nafta could mean for jobs in ohio and america. i would like to insert the testimony of the national farmers' association and the team steer's local 416. roger discussed the loss of american jobs to low-wage jobs and nick emphasized the need to outlaw child labor with stronger bor rights and calling for a tri-labor national secretary yacht. i'm grateful for their contributions and listening to those can we move forward and bring jobs back to america and prevent exploitation of workers abroad. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee secretary recognition? >> permission to address the house the house for one minute.

. roe: i acknowledge jim powell. jim has devoted his life to many orthy endeavors to helping students achieve their dream of going to college. a teacher helped to apply for a scholarship. jim and his wife opened a construction company which has been operating for the past 48 years and employs more than 500 people. all of this wouldn't have been possible without the kind of encouragement. in an effort, he created the paul foundation which has provided 4,000 scholarships to the east tennessee state university. our community is a better place to live and work. jim exemplifies the spirit and i commend him for his contributions and wish him nothing but the best on his 80th

birthday. happy birthday, jim. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. >> mr. speaker, i rise to celebrate the life of one of my constituents who lost her life in sunday's mass shooting in las vegas. she was described as her friends and family as an ambitious and hard worker and embodied the american dream. her middle name means america in vietnamese. her mother came from vietnam. michelle would go on to graduate from u.c. davis and before moving to eagle rock to work as an insurance agent. my heart goes out to michelle

and her family and friends and the other victims of the las vegas shooting. i'm heart broken and angry about the events in las vegas. these incidents are far too common and it is my hope that congress takes action to lessen these types of tragic events. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> the nation stands in mourning over the tragedy in las vegas. no one ever wants to be in that situation. but it once again reminds us that when there is danger, our law enforcement officers run to it, not away from it. mr. harris: we are going to hear many stories from that tragedy in las vegas, but many of them will concern those brave law enforcement officers who at the

risk of their own lives protected and saved the lives of many, many others. so as we mourn the tragedy in las vegas, let us always remember and be thankful to those law enforcement officers who protect us each and every day. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. >> i rise today to share the morris. leonardo he was an undocumented resident of oregon. he was brought here at 10 years old. his mother was a victim of domestic violence and needed to get away from her husband as possible. his mother left everything in order to pursue a better life. leo has attended high school and

graduated from college and pursuing a bachelor's degree at western oregon university, he works full-time helping senior citizens and individuals with disabilities access health care and food benefits. leo was a co-founder of the oregon daca coalition which raises awareness by empowering youth to engage in the democratic process. he considers himself an american and i do, too. we need to pass a clean dream act bill that will recognize leo and 800,000 dreamers as equal members in our community and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. >> it's time we go after the perpetrators of online sex

trafficking. a recent investigation revealed what i have been saying for been a website has wrongly interpreted and allows these sites to get away without criminal liability. i'm co-sponsoring legislation to target illicit. and it will empower law enforcement to combat sex trafficking. this is an important step to end the suffering of girls and boys, children, who are the victims of sex trafficking. mr. speaker, law enforcement needs more tools to put an end of exploitation and modern-day slavery and camping down on web pages to advertise young girls for sex is crucial to holding them accountable. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the

gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: in 1997 with a very, very bipartisan budget, reconciliation deal, we passed a magnificent statement about this nation's commitment to children. and that was the children's health insurance program that all of us are so very proud of. it started in 1997 and now millions of children as the first health reform since medicare and medicaid, millions of children were able to get health care. they could be covered. children with heart dell effects, children with various heard he tear or genetic diseases and children with

cancer or leukemia or children injured on a playing field, children could be covered. it is time to re-authorize the children's health insurance program. i call upon the leadership to be able to establish martial law and pass the re-authorization of the health insurance program before we go home. democrats have been pushing the leaders and been asking for the passage of the children's health insurance program. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: i ask for its passage i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virgin islands seek recognition? ms. plaskett: permission to address the house the house for one minute. rricanes irma and maria have wreaked havoc. the impact is yet to be

assessed, the damage from these storms is unparalleled. they have lost homes and possessions, businesses have been lost. and in the coming months i ask all my colleagues approve the support needed for short and long-term relief. tomorrow, the energy and commerce committee will consider legislation to extend the children's health insurance program for five years. i ask my colleagues to remember the people and children of virgin islands. one-third of the children live below the poverty level before the hurricanes. after the hurricanes, our anti-poverty needs will grow. we need medicaid and chip provisions to provide the virgin islands with additional funding and higher rates of matching funds so people of the virgin islands can remain covered. this in addition the federal program requirements will help the virgin islands with resources to build.

please remember the virgin islanders are americans, too just as constituents are across the country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for ms. rosen for today and tomorrow. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.

mr. garamendi: mr. speaker, there are so many things on the minds of americans, three hurricanes in a month, disasters in houston, florida, puerto rico , virgin islands and just heard our colleague from the virgin islands speak of the problems that that island has. millions of americans harmed in so many ways, lives lost. just yesterday, the tragedy in las vegas. it's hard not to focus only on those issues. but in many, many ways, las vegas aside, the issue of the hurricanes and what we will do are ricans going forward -- is on my mind and i suspect

on the minds of many. as we review and figure out how to deal with those disasters and how we rebuild, i would like us all to keep in mind that our goal, in addition to bringing these economies back together again, putting people back in their homes, the businesses and the infrastructure, that we keep in mind that we ought to be looking for better jobs and better wages for all americans and certainly for those in the low and middle-income brackets, and a better future. think about puerto rico. their future. how do we make it a better future. well, we certainly know there is a problem in much of america, stagnation of wages so higher pay becomes critically

important. we need to deal with the cost issues that go into this and we need to make sure all americans whatever they may be, puerto rico, virgin islands, washington, virginia, whatever, that they have the tools to compete. today we are going to take one hour and going to talk about ideas that are -- that need to be discussed here in the house of representatives. legislation, existing programs, such as the jones act, shipbuilding and the like. i would like to ask my colleague representative boil to begin a discussion that our colleagues are introducing. mr. boyle: i thank the gentleman from california. before i have the opportunity to speak about that, i just want to say briefly what a contrast we see between the republican tax

plan that was released last week and the bill that my colleagues, congresswoman schakowsky from illinois and congressman veezey and i will talk about it. the republican plan released last week, everyone has acknowledged it is a massive iveaway to the wealthy top 1%. it is a 79.7% of the top 1% would get the benefit. but what most people don't realize, under that same tax plan, many middle-class families and working-class families would see their taxes go up, not down. the same nonpartisan tax policy center estimates that 30% of middle-class families would see their taxes go up. we did an estimate of my district in northeast

philadelphia and suburban philadelphia, a majority of middle class and working-class families in my district would see their taxes go up. all the pay to pay for a massive tax cut for the wealthiest 1%. that is wrong. . now contrast that with what we're introducing this week, and i praise the leadership of my colleague, representative schakowsky who introduced this idea. we are doing the patriot employment act. it's bothered me as someone who has seen jobs leave my district and go oversea, go abroad, it's bothered me that our tax code is an incentive for that sort of behavior that a company that closed a factory cha existed more than half a century in philadelphia and shipped over 300 jobs to mexico, they're able

to claim a few tax deductions while doing that. the patriot employer act closes those deductions and takes the money and devotes 100% of it to benefit those responsible employers, those companies that are providing jobs here at home in america, that are well-paid, with good benefits. now my colleague, congresswoman schakowsky, will go into greater detail about some of the aspects of the patriot employer act but i really think that this should be a bipartisan bill. it's a chance for our colleagues this other side, even administration, that says it's concerned -- on the democratic side this of the aisle, support patriot employer act and reject e sort of wall street-driven tax cook may nee ideas that give a massive tax cut to the

wealthiest 1% and require working class and middle class families to pay for it. with that, i yield back to mr. garamendi. mr. garamendi: mr. boyle, thank you so very much. i started off with a better deal, better wages, better jobs, or jobs at all, to make -- the make it in american agenda which we've been talking about here for five or six years, long before president trump came along, involves tax policy and bringing to our attention tonight a tax issue that will create jobs in america and frankly no longer promote the offshoring of jobs. another piece of our puzzle on making it in america and better wages, better jobs and better future, is something that's been much discussed in recent days, particularly with regard to the puerto rican situation, and that

is the jones act. joining me tonight to discuss the jones act, why it is important to america, why it is a major job opportunity and continuation for american mariners, american ship owners, as well as america's ship yards, is my colleague from the state .f washington ms. jey jey: -- ms. jayapal: it was very good to see you in seattle. people know us for boeing, but they should know us for our port and all the maritime we have there. obviously since hurricane maria hit last month, many of them have not had access to relief

supplies, including food and water, many have lost their lives, it's been heart breaking to watch. and we all stand united in pushing this administration to do everything possible ensure the people of puerto rico have access to relief supplies and that the administration is doing everything it can to assist and rebuild. these are american citizens and we have an obligation to do everything we can to help after this devastating hurricane. but the reason i'm here today is to join my colleague, the gentleman from california, because in the wake of hurricane maria, we did see a false narrative spreading through the media and social channels about the jones act. and it caused us to reflect on the fact that perhaps not everybody knows the history of the jones act, not everybody understands exactly what it does and how it supports so strongly merican jobs and really that

benefit so many of us. there are people who thought that perhaps the jones act was to blame for the fact that supplies were not making it out into puerto nd rico, so i'm very grateful to the gentleman from california and our republican colleague across the aisle, representative hunter, into for holding an inf hearing on this very topic. and inviting in shipbuilders, shipping companies, as well as the maritime labor industry, tell us a little bit about what was happening in puerto rico. and so this is an opportunity really for us to talk about what the jones act means because when you're talking about make it in america, when you're talking about better wages, better jobs and a better deal for the american public then the jones act in many ways is the epitome of exactly that. the jones hackett ab-- the jones act has been in effect for nearly 100 years and inspired by

laws that were in place since the first session of congress in 1789. requires that when goods are shipped via water between two points in the united states, they must be shipped on u.s.-made vessels requires that operated by americans. and so this is where the critical industry comes in. in terms of puerto rico, the jones act is not the reason that the distribution of relief supplies has been slow to move in puerto rico. in fact, reports are that thousands of containers containing fuel, emergency housing, food, water and other essentials are trapped at the port of san juan. to date, at least 11,300 containers with millions of pounds of relief supplies have been delivered. to put this in perspective, just one such state of the art container ship arrived in puerto rico just three days after hurricane maria made landfall

carrying more than 35 million pounds of cargo. the equivalent of about 1,900 cargo planes. you can see here on the chart that the jones act current capacity is 22,000 t.e.u.'s with maximum carrying capacity of 1.079 billion pounds. so just imagine that the additional surge capacity as of t.e.u.'s with5430 a max carry compassionity of 258 million pounds. so the issue has not been that ships are not delivering. we actually are, our american ships are delivering supplies. but unfortunately, because of the infrastructure, the lack of infrastructure, the destruction to the roads and the issues around refrigeration across the island, unfortunately, warehouses have been de-- have

destroyed, there's nowhere to store those products and there's no refrigeration. what we're seing is the capacity of the docks continuing to increase. so over the next two weeks dest alone, jones act vessels will deliver more than 9,000 containers to puerto rico, including at least 3,300 fema loads full of relief cargo. so despite these volume the residents of puerto rico are suffering, not because ships aren't being able to deliver there, but because of the lack of infrastructure i mentioned, lack of refrigeration, all those things. so currently, the point that's very important i think for everybody to understand is that american flag ships have the capacity to meet puerto rico's relief cargo needs and the emphasis needs to be on moving cargo from the port of san juan into the island and focusing on rebuilding the infrastructure that's suffered because of the

devastating hurricane. mr. speaker, some have called for an outright repeefl the jones act despite these facts. why should members of congress on both sides of the aisle support the jones act? because it is incredibly important to our country's economy and to the maritime industry, which supports nearly 500,000 jobs and is responsible for over $92 billion in gross economic output each year. so in my home state of washington, which ranks sixth in the country for jones act jobs this law supports over 16,000 jobs and helps generate approximately $1.1 billion in labor income. more than 19 million tons of cargo originate from my home state of washington every year and the state imports more than 28 million tons annually. without these jobs, our economy would suffer tremendously. and in my district, washington's

seventh district, the jones act directly supports nearly 2,000 jobs, indirectly supports more than 6,500 related jobs and to be clear, everybody in -- everywhere in the country where we have jones act jobs, they are better jobs, better ages -- wages and a better future for our americans across the country. shipyard jobs pay incredibly well. they earn workers about 45% more than the national average for private sector jobs. and this is an area, as we saw in the hearing that you had, that this is an area where business and maritime labor, our merchant marines are prud to work together to make sure that we provide for the national security of our country, through the jones act and also that we provide these deep investments in good-paying union jobs. mr. speaker, there's no doubt we have to invest in puerto rico by providing comprehensive relief,

including water, house, food and medical care and we have to do everything we can to rebuild the infrastructure. at the same time, we must make sure we continue bipartisan support for this bedrock maritime law. thank you, to the gentleman from california, and i yield back. mr. garamendi: i thank the gentlelady from the state of washington for very clearly laying out why the jones act is good for all of us. we held a hearing today, an ex-tense i hearing on the maritime industry and the jones act. the subcommittee of the transportation-infrastructure committee, the coast guard maritime subcommittee, and it was laid out with facts and figures, many of those behind you on the chart. there's been a lot of talk about the jones act somehow harming puerto rico. the truth is exactly the opposite. the jones act allows for three american shipping companies using american ships with american mariners to deliver

twice a week, each of those companies, twice a weeken what amounts to a milk run from jacksonville, florida, to puerto rico, all the goods and services that they need and now with the hurricane having happened, this -- these three companies are providing all of the fema, all the emergency aid, and they have additional capacity that has not yet been used in delivering the goods and services that puerto rico needs in the wake of the hurricane. in addition to that, the jones act is not just between the island of puerto rico, guam, or hawaii. it is the inland water ways of america. the great mississippi river system, all the barges and tugs and the rest. the jones act didn't exist, we would have companies, mariners, sailors, operating in the heart of our country from everywhere in the world and this is a major

national security issue beyond what we'll talk about. d like to move on now, ms. jayapal. i'd like to pick up my colleague, mr. marc veasey, from texas to carry on these issues. mr. veasey: thank you very much. you have done a great job of really making the congress aware and the american public aware of just how important the jones act is to our country. there have been a lot of misconceptions out there, a lot of reports on the news that was quick to pick up on a sound bite. the fact of the matter is when you talk about trade, taxes, labor and other things that you've added national security, it's the jones act that is keeping all of those things going strong in america and i just really appreciate you doing that. also, as you know, when you talk about middle class jobs in this country, there's been a lot of about how country

we lost about how we lost a lot of middle class jobs over the last -- protect it and we need to make sure we keep those jobs here in america going strong. i'm so glad that you also cleared up confusion about what was really going on in relation to puerto rico. that the ships, american ships were doing what they were supposed to be doing, there were other issues why people weren't getting supplies. the american public needs to know that. the american public needs to know that. and when you start talking about middle class wages, obviously, the merchant marines, the mariners out there that work on these cargo and container ships help keep that middle class strong in america and one of the reasons why they're able to do that is because many of thoses related to the jones act, they're union jobs. they're union jobs. and the people that rub those unions, they worked to make sure they have good wages and good

benefits and able to send them to college and as you know, i spoke with you before and you heard representative boyle earlier just about how important these issues are to us. and i know as well as you and everyone else within our caucus and i want to point this out very briefly. according to the center of economic policy and research, unionized workers are compared to their nonunionized counterparts and wages are 14% higher. if you have jobs that are paying 14% higher, we want to protect those jobs and we want those people to have more spending power. the union wage premium is larger for some demographic groups that receive lower pay including those of color and without a

college education. the center for american progress unds, this has increased substantially. union workers have access to benefits. and we discussed social security in this chamber quite often and how we go into our retirement years and whether or not we will be able to take care of ourselves and no longer to perform certain physical functions. union workers are 28% more likely to have health insurance and 5 % to have a retirement plan than nonunion workers at workplaces and union women in the united states are more likely to take parental leave which is more likely to be paid. and again, whether it's the jones act or other davis-bacon,

we need to make sure in this country we keep these jobs going strong and keep the conversation going in that direction and i want to thank you for the work that you have done to raise awareness on this issue. we need to continue to talk about this, just so the american public understands how important this is to our economy, to our society, as we continue to grow our work force into the 21st century. thank you very much. mr. garamendi: mr. veasey, thank you very much for bringing to our attention the role of the unions. if we are looking for a better deal, better jobs, better future, the union members in the maritime industry will and have been able to achieve that. the great risk is, legislation maybe moving through the senate and the house that would

terminate the jones act and along with it, some 400,000 jobs in the united states, 100,000 of those directly in the shipyards that are building these american-built ships for the intercoastal or the groundwater, the river transportation as well as the open ocean transportation. so we got something here that is very, very important. and that is make it america, a better deal for americans comes through the jones act. so thank you very much, mr. veasey. and i notice my colleague from chicago, ms. schakowsky is to pick up something about what we talked about earlier in our make it in america agenda. if you look here, number two on the make it in america agenda is taxes. i think you want to talk about taxes, so please. ms. schakowsky: i wanted to pick

up on something that congressman veasey said and thank you for your relentless push to make sure we have good jobs in america, that that's part of our better deal. we're just not talking about jobs, but talking about good jobs and i wanted to say when it comes to women, if women want equal pay for equal work now, join a union. there aren't any union contracts that say we are going to pay men up here and women over here and not 79 cents on the dollar for a women on the labor union. i encourage my sisters to join a union. so, representative veasey and representative boyle are the co-chairs of what we call the blue collar caucus and notice my blue today. mr. garamendi: you are properly dressed. ms. schakowsky: and i'm a proud

member of that caucus because workers are just not getting a fair deal today. the u.s. is the richest country in the world and in the history of the world. we are richer than we have ever been. now most people don't actually feel that, because they haven't seen the ordinary worker hasn't seen any wage growth in the last two, maybe 2.5, three decades. he income gap between c.e.o. oomplet and the workers are bigger. they ship jobs overseas. so obviously, it is time to fix the economy that is rigid against america's working families and we can start with our tax code or end with our tax code or in the middle of our tax code. we need to do something about

our tax code. today, i'm joining with ongressman boyle and congressman veasey, we introduced the patriot employer act and that is h.r. 3925, a first step towards fixing a broken tax system instead of giving tax breaks to companies that offshore jobs that pay poverty wages. our bill encourages businesses to create good jobs here at home. and here's how the bill works. we reward patriot employers with ey'sx credit for each employ wages to qualify for the tax credit, a business must fulfill the following checklist. one, invest in american jobs. no offshoring or tax inversion schemes. two, pay living wages.

three, contribute to workers' retirement security through a defined benefit or defined contribution plan. four, provide quality health insurance. five, provide paid leave. six and lastly, have practices in place to support employment of our troops, our veterans and people with disabilities. there's ar companion bill that sherrod brown by -- senator brown, i'm sure he'll get more co-sponsors. t lastly -- no, i said that, ok. small businesses under 50 employees can qualify for the tax credits by meeting only some of these criteria and unlike the g.o.p. tax give-aproposal, it

pays for the tax credits by closing tax loopholes that ncentivize companies to invest overseas. there is an advantage for companies who decide to take their jobs out of the united states. under the current tax code, multinational companies get to defer until they bring it back to the united states. and through creative accounting, corporations get to avoid taxes in perpetuity. that's forever. at the same time, those corporations can deduct interest expenses on investments overseas such as building a manufacturing plant somewhere. that is -- we are rewarding corporations that avoiding taxes. mr. garamendi: excuse me for a moment. you said something that caught

my attention. american corporations that build a factory in china are able to deduct that cost of that factory gainst their american taxes? unbelievable? unbelievable. ms. schakowsky: deduct interest expenses on investments overseas and that would include building a new manufacturing plant offshore somewhere. we don't want to be rewarding corporations that are avoiding u.s. taxes and offshoring american jobs and getting the benefits. this raises taxes on corporations and reduces taxes on businesses that invest in good american jobs. the president talks about america first. this is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing. let's not create incentives to take those jobs away.

the trump-g.o.p. tax plan is a betrayal of american workers. i don't know that he knows that. t does nothing to raise wages. 80% of the plan's tax cuts would go to the top 1%. and 30% of middle-class families would actually see a tax increase under the flan. and as for corporate taxes, it doubles down on the problem in the current tax code while our current tax code put off pay ping taxes. the new republican plan would give permanent tax breaks for offshoring. the republican tax plan means less revenue for investments that grow the middle class like education and infrastructure, which we need so badly which he

said he wanted to do. it means more jobs shifted abroad and for middle-class families it would mean a smaller pay tchep check. the patriot employer act with stronger public unions offers a real solution to the growing inequity in our country. there are responsible businesses in our country. if a business pays fair wages and provides good wages, we should support that. we should make nt make them compete with corporations that don't. in the end, it's a question of whose side are you on, the offshoring corporation or the american worker. i urge my house colleagues to reject tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and multinational corporations and invest in american workers and not offshoring.

thank you for letting me talk about this new bill. it is totally consistent with our better deal, better wages, better future and better jobs in america. so thank you so much for your leadership on this issue, congressman garamendi. mr. garamendi: thank you for bringing the voice of chicago to the floor on a very good piece of legislation. that has gone across the desk and i haven't put it -- tr ms. schakowsky: i'm going to get your signature. mr. garamendi: as a proud member of the blue collar caucus, thank you for both wearing blue and bringing a message from that caucus. it's extremely important. the make it in america agenda has all of these pieces, you talked about education and labor, all the piece of this

puzzle and as we discussed today, there are programs that are clearly going to be at risk. and if the jones act somehow waived or ed or gets made less effective, there are some 400,000 jobs in american shipyards across the nation that will be lost. these are shipyards in philadelphia and the gulf coast, out in the west as we heard major an diego and shipyard in san diego, these are places where the jones act allows for american ships to be built, not in china, but rather in america, make it america. the jones act does that. i'll give you a couple of examples. one of the companies that ships goods from jfl, florida, to

puerto rico -- jacksonville, florida to puerto rico is the tote shipping company. ey spent $400 million on two of the most advanced clean energy ships anywhere in the world. these ships were built in san diego. they are l.n.g.-powered ships and they are flying the jacksonville-puerto rico trade, wice a twice a week. they too will soon have l.n.g. powered ships operating in that area, ships built in america with american workers and american steel, american engines and the rest. so this is critically important. 100,000 jobs in the ship yards. if we repeal the jones act, they're gone.

those jobs are gone. and along with it, the ability american shipbuilding industry to supply commercial ships to move critical national security american men, equipmen wherever it needs to go in the world. the u.s. military is dependent on the merchant marine, the american merchant marine system. to move 90% of the personnel, the equipment, the supplies, tanks, the artillery, all the rest around the world. we have huge airports, they're essential. we see those operating in puerto rico now. but they're not supplying the great mass of goods and services that are needed. and so the plea from all of us that understand what the jones t is really all about say, don't do away with this critical

piece of america's infrastructure. the rest of it, at the hearing today, i heard my republican colleague, mr. hunter, chairman of the committee, quote the great free market idol, adam smith, all too often the free marketers of the world read those paragraphs that serve their purposes but if they were to read the next few paragraphs in adam smith's work "the wealth of nations," they would hear, or read that adam smith said very clearly that the british government this eperiod of time he was writing, said it was absolutely essential for the british government to protect the british merchant marine and the british maritime industry. that same admonition should come to the american congress the same way. protect this vital industry. protect the merchant marines.

we do not want and we cannot ave foreign ships, foreign tugboats, foreign -- i assume we have more time? good because i'm just getting warmed up. foreign ships, foreign tugboats, foreign barges operating up and down the mississippi river. what are they carrying? they're carrying gasoline. diesel oil. natural gas. volatile substances. they're carrying cement. they're carrying grain. you want to have yemeni sailors on the mississippi? you want to have ships owned by china, tugboats, barges owned by china on the mississippi river? if that's what you want, do away with the jones act because that's exactly what would happen. if you want good american wages with good, american mariners, operating on the inland waterways through the gulf coast

and up the east coast, if that's what you want then you better keep the jones act. do away with the jones act, guaranteed we'll have the elimination of the american maritime industry. if you want american ships operating on the west coast, from seattle to anchorage, then you better keep the jones act. similarly with hawaii and gausm and most of all if you want -- and guam and most of all, if you want to have the united states military phone china and say, we need to ship a few things to the south china sea to deal with encroachment in the south china sea, gee, mr. china, would you send us some ships to put military equipment on those ships? is that what we want for those men and women here in this congress and in the senate that want to do away with the jones act? think about it. you to away with the jones act you do away with american merchant marine and then this

country relies upon china, the largest ship owning nation in the world, or maybe sailors from wherever. but what background would they have? so, let's pay attention here. adam smith said to the british government, maintain the laws, do not allow the maritime industry for great britain to go away. and so we should be paying attention to the master of the free market system who wasn't totally for the free market but understood the necessity of protecting certain industries that are critical to the future of a country. one more thing is on my mind. the congress of the united states, two years ago, decided that we ought to, for the first time in some 50 years, export

our crude oil. we've been exporting natural gas in the form of liquefied natural gas for some time. we added to that the export of oil. is that strategic national asset on american ships with american sailors? the answer is no. but if we passed a couple of paragraphs of law and required, as we once did with the north slope oil, when that opened up in the 1960's, that that oil be transported on american-built ships with american sailors, if e were to reinstitute that law with just a small percentage of the strategic national asset crude oil and natural gas, just a small percentage of that on just a small

american-built ships with american sailors, we could build ships in america. not just a few ships. but over the course of the next 20 or 30 years, 50, 60 ships. providing thousands upon thousands of jobs in our american ship yards. on american-built right now, where are those ships built? china. japan. korea. but not in america. got to pay attention to the 1960 law that opened up the north slope of alaska. that required that oil from alaska be on american-built ships with american sailors. that lasted for almost 40 years and then slowly, slowly, it was set aside. now that oil is on ships that are built in china, korea, japan. if we want good-paying jobs in america, we want a better future, if we want better jobs,

if we want an opportunity for americans to earn a good, middle class wage in the ship yards, on the ships, and maintain the -- then maintain the jones act and think seriously about a law that would create even more jobs -- jobs in american ship yards. we'll soon be introducing a bill called energizing the american maritime industry. using a strategic national asset that we are now able to export, natural gas and oil, requiring that a small percentage of that, , t 50%, not 70%, not even 40% maybe 20%, be on american trips with american sailors. there are many, many things we can do to create good-paying jobs in america. the jones act is one such. a law that's been in place for

nearly a century and served america well and will continue to serve america well. if we maintain it. if we don't allow waivers that blowholes in that law. the make it in america agenda, the president likes to talk about it, talk is cheap. legislation makes that talk real. trade policy. taxes. we just heard about the patriot tax. encouraging american businesses with real tax incentive. and discouraging american businesses with that night want to offshore the jobs. energy policy. i think i just talked about energy policy a moment ago. put that oil and natural gas on american ships. food-paying jobs in the shipyards, good-paying jobs on

the ships. education. maritime academies. providing the education that's ecessary to do that. and infrastructure. trade movement. the ports. channels deepening. maintaining the locks on the mississippi and ohio. infrastructure. again, good-paying jobs. we can do a lot, it takes laws, it takes men and women on the democratic side and the republican side that come together and say, we can do this. we can do this for america and for american workers. so with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the gentleman in arizona, mr. gosar is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. gosar: thank you, mr. speaker. before i begin, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks

and to include extraneous materials on the topic of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gosar: i rise to bring this chamber's attention to the devastating wildfires that have ravaged the nation this year. the national interagency fire center are ports there have been 9,563 fire that was burned 8,422,251 acres so far in 2017. wow. another 80 million acres throughout the country are at high risk status, including one quarter of the 193 million acre national forest system. though the forest service spent a record $2.3 billion to fight fires in 2017, these resources are being spent on the back end. mr. speaker, the country has literally been on fire. particularly western community. it is far pastime that this chamber pass mr. speaker, h.r. 2936 and get serious about combating catastrophic wildfires before they get started.

mr. westerman's bipartisan bill adopts a forward-thinking, active management strategy and provides allocation reforms that would cease the practice of fire borrowing. i will likely have more comments later but we have some folks pressed for time so i'll end my comments there. with that, i yield three minutes to the gentleman , my friend from colorado, congressman tipton. mr. tipton: thank you, chairman gosar. i appreciate your efforts to highlight the threat from wildfire that we're having in the west. mr. speaker , in recent weeks, in the aftermalt of hurricanes harvey and irma, they've dominated our news cycle. our hearts certainly go out to the people that have been impacted as they rebuild their lives and continue to work to ensure that they have the resources that thigh need. -- that they need. when we -- when we hear natural dastst disaster, most of us think tornadoes or hurricanes. unless you come from the western united states you probably don't

think of wildfires as a natural disaster but they are and they have devastating effect. wildfire season is part of life in the west. this year's fire season is shaping up to be the worst in history. years of mismanagement of national forests have led to conditions where fires are burning longer and hotter than ever before. we need address the problem on two fronts. one, through better forest management, and two, by updating response so it's more line n line with response to other natural disasters. on the forest management front, give the forest service the tools to engage in response so t management, that means removing the dead and downed timber that serves as a fuel source for natural or manmade fires. and supporting collaboration between all levels of government. these principles are laid out in the resilient forests act by my westerman, of

arkansas. i'm proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation. we must also reform the federal budgeting process for wildfire prevention and also suppression. for too long the process of the federal government has been to allocate money to fight catastrophic wildfires but undermine efforts to prevent these fires from igniting in the first place. under current law they must shift budgets from nonfire fighting accounts to make up the difference. last year they had to move $700 billion to cover fire fighting costs which brought their fire fighting efforts to 55% of the entire budget. you'd think that fire fighting wouldn't be the biggest line item in a budget tasked with maintaining healthy forests. it is critical that we treat wildfires like other natural disasters after an agency's wildfire suppression funds are exhausted. the cost of any extraordinary fire fighting that goes beyond the annual budget should be fund budget cap

adjustment similar to what's currently been used by fema for other natural disasters. it is my hope that we can continue to bring more attention to wildfires that are budget ca cross the west and the impacts we are having on our community and also so that we can work together to advance policies, to better support forest management, fire prevention, and suppression efforts and forest health. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back to chairman gosar. mr. gosar: i thank the vice chairman for his comments and i yield five minutes to the gentleman from utah, mr. tewart, for five minutes. mr. stewart: i'd like to thank the gentleman from arizona who i consider a friend and one of the great leaders in congress for leading this special order and bringing this important matter before the chamber. 2017 will go down as the worst wildfire season in history. my home state of utah has definitely felt the effects.

in june the brian head fire burned more than 71,000 acres in my state. it burned for nearly a month. creating more than $36 million in damage. that doesn't count the millions and millions, indeed tens of millions of dollars it took to fight the fire. while the fire was burning through my district, i was able to meet with local and state and federal leaders to take a tour of the fire and survey the damage and to try to find a solution. the images i saw as i toured this fire were truly heartbreaking. dozens and dozens of evacuated homes, burned homes, ruined forests, firefighters and volunteers who were working day and night to try to contain the fire. i took more than an hour in a helicopter to fly around the circumference of this fire and as i was flying around looking down and thinking of, among other things, you know, the wildlife that had been devastated by this fire, i wondered, how long will it take

for us to recover from this? for this beautiful landscape to recover? and i can promise you this, it will not happen in my lifetime. my family owns a ranch and almost 70 years ago we had a similar fire and you can still see the scars from that fire. which is several generations now. one incident manager told me, and quote him, in 29 years of fighting fires, i have in her seen a fire move so fast, burn so quickly, and so hot, that it could not be controlled or fought head-on. and you have to wonder, why is that? and the answer is very unfortunate. it's due to miss management -- mismanagement. current mismanagement. and it is mismanagement, has left our forest vulnerable to insects and disease that make for a ripe forest for catastrophic fires. these heavyhanded regulations paralyze forest managers. so they can't accomplish the

critical tasks that are necessary for proper forest management. this failure to treat high-risk areas and remove hazardousably bl-up has left our lands susceptible to fires that grow in size and severity and cost. so you have to ask yourself, what's the answer? how do we stop this? how do we stop it from happening again and again and again? and the answer is really quite simple. federal policies have contributed to recent catastrophic fires and wildlife management begins with proper land management. that's why i support representative westerman's bipartisan resilient federal forest act that allows agencies to do this work so that we can prevent these catastrophic wildfires. i look forward to the house passing this important legislation. let us bring back the beauty of our forests. let us bring back the health of our forests. let us prevent these catastrophic fires that rage out of control.

mr. gosar, thank you for bringing this again to the floor and with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. mr. gosar: i thank my friend from utah who has seen the challenging aspects and destruction from the fires. also now i want to acknowledge is iend from montana, who actually still seeing the ravages of the fire. montana has the worst quality of air recorded there. 18 times greater than the e.p.a. safe particulate limit. that's a record that we have to stop. i'd like to recognize the gentleman from montana, mr. gianforte, for five minutes. mr. gianforte: i thank the gentleman from arizona for bringing the attention of the house to this important matter. this summer we had catastrophic wildfires in montana. we burned 1.2 million acres. that's equivalent of the size of the state of delaware. i've seen the destruction firsthand. i visited with incident commanders and firefighters on

five separate wildfires this summer. in lincoln county, the air quality was so unhealthy that teachers provided masks to the kids in school so they could breathe. in august i had secretary zinke and secretary purdue come to montana and tour the lolo peak fire, one of the most expensive fires that was fought this summer. and worked to bring relief to montanans. in july emergency relief for farmers -- farmers and ranchers was provided by opening up the c.m. russell recreation area to grazing. we had hungry cows left from pasture being consumed, and grass available. it was a commonsense solution to put those two together. also in july we successfully urged the fema director, brock long, to reconsider their denial of one of our fires and declare montana eligible for emergency funds. for these two things, i am thankful.

so the negative impact has been severe. and while there's been some relief, including welcome rain and snow, we can't rely on that. again, this summer over a million acres burned in montana alone. we lost two firefighters. livelyhoods were threatened. wildlife habitats were destroyed. smoke hung in the air. and ash rained down on our homes and our cars. air quality reached dangerous levels in our communities. in fact, blue cross/blue shield of montana donated 150 air filters to our schools so our children could breathe. i've also seen the positive results of managed forests. and i've seen this firsthand. just two weeks ago i toured a b.l.m. forest near mile city, montana. and showed the effect of treating and managing forests. a fire burned in 2015 through a forest, through the crowns, and when it reached a forest that had been managed, the fire

quickly dropped into the undergrowth, burned through the grass, but none of the trees were lost. in the untreated forest there's just dead trees that won't recover in our lifetime. in the treated area, all of the trees survived. in fact, when an overgrown forest is thinned, more surface water came back, there's better habitat for wild life. and we just have a better result. i saw that also on the roaring lion fire which occurred in the bitter root valley in 2016, where there private property owners had managed their private property. when the fire on public land reached there, it was quickly extinguished and hundreds of homes were saved. so the benefits of properly managed forests are clear. we have healthier forests. there's more wildlife. more hunting. more recreational opportunities. more good paying jobs. and wildfires are less severe. one of the biggest problems we

have is litigation. we need more collaborative projects. but litigation is one of the greatest problems. parties come to the table in good faith, they work collaboratively. only to be overturned by court action by radical environmental extremists. the stonewall project in lincoln, montana, is a good example. here the forest service worked together with local landowners over an eight-year period to develop a collaborative forest management project. once it was approved a year ago, the lawyers swooped in, arguing the project would disrupt lynx habitat. the judge overturned the decision. fires raged this summer. now fleece more habitat for lynx and all of that carbon's been released into the atmosphere. benefits of forest management are clear. as i've mentioned. healthier forests, more wildlife, more hunting. jobs and less severe fires. it's time to act. we can't control the weather, but we can control how we manage our forests.

it's time to reform our forest management by passing bruce westerman's resilient federal forest act, and we also must put common safeguard rails on the endangered species act to avoid frivolous lawsuits. thank you, mr. chairman, and with that i yield back. mr. gosar: i thank the gentleman from montana who i am sad to see have such a hard time this year in forest management. i'd like to now yield six minutes to the gentleman from california, my friend and colleague, mr. mcclintock. mr. mcclintock: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank chairman gosar of the western caucus for arranging this special order tonight and especially for his exemplary leadership as chairman of the western cawculls. the wildfire crisis facing -- caucus. the wildfire crisis facing our forests in the west comes down to a simple adage. excess timber comes out of the forest one way or the other. it is either carried out or it

burns out. but it comes out. when we carried out our excess timber, we had healthy, resilient forests and we had thriving, prosperous communities. excess timber sales from federal lands not only generated revenues for our mountain communities, but created thousands of jobs. but in the 1970's, we adopted laws like the national environmental policy act and the endangered species act that have resulted in endlessly time-consuming and cost-prohibitive restrictions and requirements that have made the scientific management of our forests virtually impossible. timber sales from our federal lands has dropped 80% in the intervening years, with an increase in forest fires. in california alone the number of sawmills has dropped from 149 in 1981 to just 27 today. timber that once had room to grow healthy and strong now

fights for its life against other trees trying to occupy the same ground. average tree density in the sierra nevada is three to four times the density that the land can actually support. in this weakened condition, trees lose their natural defenses to drought and disease and they ultimately succumb to catastrophic wildfires. three years ago an estimated 25 million trees in the sierra fell victim to these stressers. two years ago that number doubled to 50 million trees. last year more than 100 million dead trees are now waiting to burn in the sierra. well, after 45 years of experience with these environmental laws, all passed with the promise that they'd improve our forest environment, i think we are entitled to ask, how's the forest environment

doing? all around us the answer is damning. these laws have not only failed to improve our forest environment, they are literally killing our forests. the same politicians responsible for these failed laws have -- have recently conjured up two new excuses. one is climate change. the other is that we're putting out too many fires. putting out too many fires? that invites an important question. exactly which fires do they propose that we allow to burn? perhaps the king fire that almost wiped out the towns of georgetown and forest hill on its way to lake tahoe in 2014. or her happens the fire this this-- or perhaps the fire year that almost wiped out mariposa on the way to the yosemite valley. or any one of the more than 1,000 fires in the sierra this year that almost that cal fire has put out this year.

any one of which could have grown into a megafire but for the vigilance and competence of our fire agencies. which of these fires would they allow to burn into a conflagration? true, controlled burns play an important role in clearing out underbrush. but as firefighters bitterly complained to me at the command center of the detwiler fire this year, these same laws make it virtually impossible to get permits to do the controlled burn. the other reason that we hear is climate change. well, let's put that to the smell test. throughout our vast forests, it's often very easy to visually identify the property lines between well managed private forests and the neglected federal lands. i've seen it myself on aerial inspection. the private managed forests are green, healthy and thriving. the neglected federal forests are debsly overcrowded -- densely overcrowd and --

overcrowded and often scarred by fire. you can literally tell from the condition of the forest where the property line is. how clever of our climate to know exactly what is the boundary line between private and government lands. and if carbon dioxide's the problem, doesn't it make sense to mill fully grown trees, to sequester the carbon and replace them with young, growing trees that absorb much higher levels of carbon? but again, these same laws prevent this. this is not complicated. our forests are catastrophically overgrown. drought is a catalyst, it is not the cause. and overgrown forests, much snow evaporates and cannot reach the ground. the volume in an overgrown forest is a big problem in a normal rain year. in a drought it becomes lethal. pest lens is a catalyst, it is not a cause.

healthy trees can naturally resist bark beetles. stressed trees cannot. a properly managed forest matches the tree density to the ability of the land to support it. but we cannot properly manage our forests because of the laws now in place. mr. westerman's resilient federal forest act and other measures will help restore our national forests but we are running out of time to enact them because we are running out of forests to save. again, i thank the gentleman for yielding time today. i thank him for his leadership and i thank him for arranging this hour tonight. mr. garamendi: -- >> the gentleman brings up some good points. mr. gosar: litigation and other

challenges have caused reduction in active saw mills nationwide from 13rks00 in 1995 to just 20 today. with that, i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentleman from washington, mr. -- the gentleman from oregon, for five minutes, mr. walden. mr. walden: i thank the gentleman from arizona very much. thank you for your leadership on this, mr. gosar. to my colleagues who understand the problems we face and what's happened to our forest. i stand united with all of you in the western caucus. this is something we've done some work on in the past and then we've been staaled out especially in the last eight years. i know that president trump stands with us wanting to pass legislation, get it down to his desk so he can sign it so we can begin to be better stewards of our great federal forrests, these forest lands important to all of us. as we saw painfully this summer,

smoke chokes our citizens, it chokes children. literally in my district children had to be sent home because of smoke in their schools due too forest fires. in oregon we've seen some of the worst fires in our state's history. it seemed every day came with new reports of more fires, more smoke. while this year's entire season has been particularly tense and devastating, images like these are nothing new for oregonians. each summer smoke has filled our skies in oregon, year after year after year. vast swaths of land in our beautiful state are charred. unlike private forest owners, the state of oregon which i'm proud to be a resident of and our forest policy and tribal lands and county lands after a fire they go in and clean it up. they replant. they get a new, healthy young forest growing, which if you're concerned about producing carbon emissions, you want healthy trees because they sequester carbon. burned, dead, decaying trees and

old trees emit carbon. we can do good things for the ecology of our world by planting new trees after a fire. we'll talk about that in a minute. smoke inhalation has become a health hazard for oregonians. i can't tell you how many in my communities, day after day after day, were given warnings that the air was too dangerous to breathe. it was unhealthy to breathe. a recent study found that wildfires contribute three times as much fine particulate matter into the air as previously thought this can cause respiratory problems and make it difficult to breathe as the citizens of our great state found this summer. wild fires also pollute our atmosphere with carbon. 2002 the biscuit fire in southwest oregon burned more than 500,000 acres. half a million acres. carbon dioxide emitted in that fire amounted to almost a uarter of the carbon dioxide

emitted in our whole state that year. we've burned thousands of acres at costs of $34 million. tomorrow we'll hold a hearing to take a look at the air impact of fires, in part because i have sfits who have seen that in some cases, fires are not aggressively fought if they're in certain federally designated areas, wilderness areas, last temptation to not use all our tools and instead to let them burn. that doesn't take into account what happens to air quality and the health of our citizens when fires are allowed to ravage and burn. so we'll take a look at the quality olved in air and pollutants emitted into the atmosphere and how that could help prevent catastrophic fires and protect our air shed and our health. each of us today nayses a

similar situation. devastating fires ignited across the west as fuel loads build across public lands. mr. mcclintock did a great job laying that out while broken federal forest policy stands in the way of better forest management, protection of habitat and water sheds and streams in our forested communities. burned this cres year. by the way , my colleagues, that's an area larger the -- than maryland. 3 1/2 burned this year. by times the size of puerto rico that's been wiped out, we talk about the devastation and disaster there and the virgin islands, every other place, somehow we sort of overlook the fact that we lose this almost every year in the west and in the forested land. communities watch their mills close, meanwhile, as federal policy and lawsuits and litigation has prevented proper management of our forests. we've lost jobs, lost our infrastruck churk lost the revenues for our schools, in

some cases for basic services like law enforcement and now promises that somehow recreation and outdoor activities would replace those good, family wage jobs, tourism, they're falling short. guess what? events are being canceled because the fires are destroying the air shed. constituents of mine have been send foge toe this is year about some of the fires this one here is from mike, returning from haunting trip just a few weeks ago. this was the eagle creek fire burning in the scenic columbia river gorge area between cascade locks and where i live in hood river. we had an evacuation notice within half a mile of where i live, it was level one, they had them higher than that as you got closer to this fear. meanwhile, events like cycle oregon, its 30th anniversary, canceled. down in ashland, the oregon shakespeare theater, world

renowned festival, had to cancel nine of their shows a cost of $400,000 direct revenue lost, not to mention concerns they have about indirect loss, people who didn't show up for other performances and it might affect their annual sales. eople are tired of this they to take s congress action. this picture tells you what we face. columbia gorge where i grew up, i can't remember a time when the road was closed as long as it was this summer. we had to go over to highway 14, and there's still one lane here that can't pass because we're worried about mud slides, rock slides and trees coming down the hillside. we need to get back to pozzive, active management in our federal forest. five years in a row the u.s. house has enacted legislation,

sent it over to the senate that would give our professional foresters, our scientists, tools that clamor for and need to forest, nagement our reduce the forest, reduce the overloading of -- back in balance with nature. every year this goes to the other body and somehow never back. that has to change. so tonight -- my colleague from arizona, my colleague from washington, my colleague from mt., myself, we've dealt with this year after year after year. and now more than half of the forest service budget is spent fighting fires. fighting fires. that's not what we should do as a matter eof bad policy. we need to change federal policy. we need to let our scientists manage these forests, restore jobs to our forested communities, protect our air sheds, our water sheds and get

back in balance. so i commend my colleagues in the western caucus for moving this forward. just finished a very positive meeting with the speaker of the house who committed to helping us on this chair for i thank the coming down and talking about the problems you face in oregon. and thank you for the hearing tomorrow, we need to enlighten all americans on what's going on in our public lands. mr. walden: they should tune in, they'll get a better understanding of what people in our districts have faced, for a month this summer, festivals had to be closed, schools canceled, people going to hospitals, choking. this is serious stuff. mr. go sar: i want to highlight

one thing you brought to attention. catastrophic fires cause significant damage to the environment. robust data from nasa has concluded that one catastrophic wildfire can emit more carbon emissions in a few days than vehicle emissions in an entire state over the course of a year. phenomenal. mr. walden: i appreciate the gentleman and i yield back. mr. gosar: i yield five minutes to my dear friend from washington, mr. newhouse. mr. newhouse: i would like to thank my good friend, mr. gosar, for holding this special order an giving us the opportunity not only to address the house on this very, very important issue but also to address the nation. mr. speaker, eight million. this year alone over eight million acres have bushed -- burned across our country. get this. 10 times that, another 80 million acres, are considered

higher -- high risk to threlt of catastrophic wildfires. if this doesn't amount to a national disaster, nothing does. if we don't acknowledge that it does, this will only continue to devastate our rural communities across the nation. the previous speaker, my friend from oregon, talked about the impact of health of people living in these communities. i can attest to you myself, living in central washington, we had smoke where the visibility was less than a quarter of a mile for weeks at a time. i knew people that had chronic coughs as a result of this smoke. myself, get this i had to come capital fornation's my cough to clear up over our august break, the air was that bad. so mr. speaker, this evening, you've heard from my colleagues from across the western united

states, as we gather to draw attention to this devastation this catastrophic wildfires, what they pose to our communities, so states like, from arkansas to arizona and colorado to california, montana to new mexico from wyoming, oregon, to the great state of washington. we're here to stress the importance of addressing the broken funding systems, as well as the lack of resources that are necessary to adequately prevent and then suppress and then fight these wildfires. so we gatter to highlight the dire need to reform the mismanagement of our federal forest which leads to the exacerbation of this de-station. mr. speaker, we gather to give voice to our often forgotten communities and our constituents. quite often you've heard these

special orders before, as members of congress we take these good opportunities to simply speak about a problem and bring light to its actuality, to let people know about it. but tonight is different because my colleagues and i are here not just to talk about this, not just to highlight the major problems that wildfires across the country, but in fact we bring good news as well. we offer solutions. for this important issue. so this evening i rise to support, and urge support two provisions originating right here in congress, the people's house, to address these issues. first of all, h.r. 2936, the resilient federal forest act which is sponsored by my good friend from the state of arkansas, mr. westerman. which addresses the disastrous consequences of catastrophic wildfires by utilizing tools of the forest -- utilizing tools

the forest service and others can use to reduce the threat posed by wildfire, by insects, by disease infestation and dangerous old forest overgrowth that serve as a tinderbox for wildfires this legislation would enable the necessary management techniques to address our forest health crises and significantly improve the resiliency of our nation's forests. on top of that, h.r. 167, wildfire disaster funding act, sponsored by my good friend and colleague from idaho, mr. simpson, fixes the way we budget for wildfire suppression by treating these catastrophic wildfires like any other natural disaster, which they are. currently agencies like the forest service are forced to borrow funding from accounts outside of their fire fighting in order to address these fire suppression costs. this has become known as fire borrowing. this tool was intened to be an

extraordinary measure but in the past eight of the last 12 years, the forest service has had to move funds from other operating accounts to fight these fires. mr. speaker, this problem is systemic. it's dire. and we must address it. the wildfire disaster funding act is a necessary solution to solve the crisis. so mr. speaker, the fourth district of the state of washington, which i'm proud to call my home, has been devastated by wildfires in recent years. from the carlton complex fire of 2014, which at the time was the largest in state history, to the okamagan complex fire which only the next year surpassed that record in addition to that we lost three firefighters in the process. our communities know what it means to live with the overwhelming consequences of

continual disasters, wildfires, year after year after year. it doesn't have to be this way. we can solve this problem. my colleagues and i gather tonight to shed light on this problem and to offer solutions and to let our constituents know that we will not give up in this ffort. mr. speaker, i yield back. mr. gosar: i thank the gentleman from washington. the two peekers have brought up the idea -- speakers have brought up the idea or the issue that the house has brought up ideas and issues in regards to mitigating our forest tragedy. there's an old adage around here that the democrats may be the opposition but the nat he is -- but the senate's always the enemy. we're here to light a fire under the senate. let's light a fimplete to do, that i now acknowledge -- fire. to o that i now acknowledge

the gentleman from arkansas, mr. westerman. mr. westerman: thank you. mr. speaker, i would like to thank the gentleman from arizona, mr. gosar, for his leadership in seth up this special order on the importance -- setting up this special order on the importance of proper forest management. proper forest management on our nation's federal lands. and i'd also like to thank him for his unwavering support for my bill, the resilient federal forest act of 2017. it is my sincere hope that we see h.r. 2936 move off the floor of the house with a strong bipartisan support and move through the senate and get it on the president's desk so he can sign this and we can start the process of reversing something that's been going on for many years. as a person educated in forestry, i can tell you that forests grow slowly.

we almost don't recognize the change in the forest because it happens so slowly over time. but given enough years, we see what's happened to our timber land out west. and i have a map here of all the forest fires that we've seen out west this summer. and we didn't just get to this point overnight. it happened over a series of years. it happened when back in the 1990's i believe when he an overreaction to probably some forest management practices that weren't the best that they could be. so the pendulum swung way too far and we got in a position where, what i say is we were loving our trees to death. and we stopped managing our trees. but we kept putting fires out. and fires -- fire is nature's natural way to manage overgrown forests. so what we've seen happen over time is we've seen more insects and disease infestations as these trees grow closer together and fill the growing space. they start competing for water

they start competing for sunlight, they -- water, they start competing for sunlight, they compete for nutrients. they become weakened. they become susceptible to insect attacks and disease. and then they die. we get lightning strikes or we get fires and we're dealing with a catastrophic event. but it doesn't have to be this way. if we would implore sound forest management practices, we can do a lot to mitigate the intensity and the number of these fires. as we look at issues that are created with these fires, we know that this has been the worst fire season on record. but it broke the record that was set in 2015 as the worst fire season on record. i predict that if we don't start managing our forests now, that in the next coming years we're going to see new worst fire seasons on record. this is a process that will continue to get worse unless we address the problem.

and it's to the point where it's going to take time to reverse what's happened and to get the forest back into a healthy state. i was notified this week about a sheep farmer down here in is a youngyoming who guy getting into the business and he lost five sheep, took them to the veterinarian to do a postmore tum analysis and found out they died from smoke inhalation. the fire that was creating the smoke that was drifting down there was about 800 miles away in montana. if it's causing that kind of risk, health risk to sheep, what is it doing to the residents that live out here? and i know that there's been schools closed, there's been people who had to stay indoors. but this creates a health risk. and it's more than just a risk to healthy forests. it's a risk to healthy humans.

o, we've got another map here. this shows the smoke drift on a particular day. i believe this was december 14. this is a map that was produced by noaa. you can see where the fires were and you can see how the winds carry the smoke. the red shows the most intense areas of smoke. the lighter green, the intermediate and then the darker green shows where the least smoke intensity walz. but this map really illustrates how fires in certain areas, the smoke gets picked up by the wind, it gets carried to different places across the country. when i look at this map from the western united states and me being from arkansas, some might ask, how do these fires effect

forestry in arkansas? well, we've talked about fire borrowing. when we take money from one account in the forest service budget and put it in the fire fighting account, that takes money away from management practices that could take place on forest in arkansas and other places to the east, where we don't have as many catastrophic fires. on top of that we see how the smoke drift effects many, many parts of the country. when we think about the smoke, what is that smoke? it's mainly carbon. the purpose or one of the main purposes of healthy -- a health request innocent -- healthy forest is to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, takes that in through the leaves, converts it into sugars and releases oxygen back into the air. so the forests clean the air. except when they're burning at the rate that they're burning right now. at 8 1/2 million acres of our

federal timber land that went up in smoke, putting millions, hundreds of millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. if we want to talk about taking carbon out of the atmosphere, the solution to that is a healthy forest. but not only do forests clean the atmosphere, they clean the water. the more ground cover we have, the more water gets filtered as it goes into the ground. as it goes into streams. but overstocked forests can also prevent water from actually getting into the ground water or into the ground table and getting into streams. and in areas in the west where we're having water short and problems, proper management of forests can help to alleviate those problems. and we're not talking about clear cutting. i get so tired of people saying all they want to do is clear cut our federal forests. be-- we don't want to clear cut the federal forests. we want to manage them. we want to use practices like thinning from below where, --

from below, where we take out small stock, where we take out the smaller trees and some of it is merchantable. some of it is not. we can produce timber that can be used in the rural areas, where it's grown, to help the economies out there. but the end goal is to have healthy forest with larger trees, spaced further apart, without all the fuel ladders going down to the ground so when fire goes through these areas, it burns at a lower temperature, closer to the ground, and that creates great wildlife habitat when we do that. so there's so many benefits of having a healthy forest. and as a forester, a forester who is trained at a school that was started by the father, along with teddy roosevelt, of our federal forests, it's embarrassing to me what's happened to our federal lands across this country. roosevelt talked about conservation. they talked about leaving our resources in better shape than what we found them in.

right now we're not doing that. we're allowing the lack of management to destroy these resources for future generations. we're allowing lack of management to emit hundreds of millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. and also take that vegetation away that provides wildlife habitat, that provides a filter for clean water, and that provides timber that's pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. we can do better than this. we have provisions in the resilient federal forest act to allow the forest service to actually manage the timber. no quire them to do a management analysis. because when you look at the dynamic nature of forests, if you say we're not going to do anything, we just made a management decision. again, the trees are living, growing organisms. even though the forest service

says, we're not managing it, they're going to continue to grow. they're going to fill the growing space, and if we continue to suppress fire, the fuel load's going to get worse and we're going to have more and more forests subject to catastrophic wildfire. of, i believe it's 192 million acres of federal timber land in this country, about 60 million acres right now according to the forest service is subject to catastrophic wildfire. it's time to act. we've waited too long and the problem continues to get worse. it will continue to get more severe as time moves on, if we don't start intervening now. so, mr. gosar, i want to again thank you for putting this time together, for the efforts that you're putting forth so we can take a proactive stance to make not only our air cleaner by not having all these catastrophic

wildfires, but to preserve -- or not preserve our forest, but conserve our forests so that they're healthy, so they're functioning the way they should be. and i want to thank you again for all that you're doing, for the work of the western caucus. and all the members who are realizing on both sides of the aisle how important it is that we do the right thing, that we pass h.r. 2936, and that we start addressing this problem now. so with that i'll yield back to the gentleman from arizona and appreciate you. mr. gosar: i thank the gentleman from arkansas for his lent leadership. he's very mod -- for his excellent leadership. he's very modest. folks, i made a comment. around here in washington, d.c., we talk about the democrats being the opposition and the senate being the problem. well, as you know, this is a very bipartisan bill. he's very modest. let's go back through what 2936, the resilient federal forest act, actually does. it allows for the streamlined

review of projects up to 30,000 acres. if the management strategy is put forward by collaborative stakeholders. imagine that. something so simple. it also requires litigants opposing active management projects to propose an alternative proposal as opposed to just saying no. no isn't a solution. it's what you're for. it removes incentives for extreme special interest groups to file frivolous lawsuits. boy, once again, coming to the table with a solution. it empowers local stakeholders and decision makers. so much we overlook, the people on ground on main street, who have to live with the consequences for bad policy decisions. it also empowers tribal communities to be part of the solution and to help reduce the risk of wildfire. we see this over and time and again. native tribes that in charge of their forest have pristine management practices. 2936 also maintains current protections for our environmentally sensitive areas, including wilderness and roadless areas. what a concession.

we need to be clear that larger risk areas -- get to these in a more timely manner. this bill is good for forest-dependent species as it allows for improvements to their habitat. this bill adopts a forward thinking active management strategy that combats dangerous wildfires before they get started, which includes reforms that would end practice of fire borrowing. i want to thank the gentleman for his excellent piece of legislation. it's time that it moves forward. once again, it's not the house that's the problem, but our colleagues across the street. once again, talk is cheap, actions speak. americans need help. the fact that these disasters are quite natural might lead one to think they are inevitable. but according to forestry officials and experts, it is our stunted federal forestry management and underfunded and misallocated forest accounts that are to blame. our system is broken. these fires start naturally and decimate our natural ecosystems. but the ultimate cause, the

level of their severity and reoccurrence is man-made. the facts about the relationship between management and wildfires speak for themselves. forest service data indicates that active forest management reduces wildfire intensity while improving forest health. in spite of this, only 1% to 2% of high risk areas are actively treated and subject to forest management. the united states forest service expends too many resources fighting fires after they break out, to work to prevent them in any significant way before they start. by performing routine thinning, culling hazardous fuels on the forest floors, and conducting controlled burns they could accomplish exactly that. but such a course of action would require ample resources and wise allocation. . both of these are in short supply. i hope my friends on the other side of the aisle hear. if you care about carbon